Trevor Booker is a serial entrepreneur who owns more than 12 companies and has a shared interest in a half-dozen more with his college roomate Jonah Baize.
The duo began their business interests with a basketball academy in Charlotte in 2011.
“We actually started it with little to no money,” Booker said. “I think the only thing we really invested in was the website, which was huge for recruiting, and that was about $2,000. But after that, the money came from the kids and families up front, so we would house and feed them off that.”
Their academy is now a group of private high schools called Combine Academy that has campuses in six states.
“When it all started out, we thought, ‘How can we make this scalable?’ Then it just took off,” Booker said.
Booker and Baize are owning partners of Combine Enterprises, the parent company of their academic investments, and JB Fitzgerald Venture Capital. The firm has a motto of “We fund and support small companies with big ideas.”
Booker's goal is to build a portfolio that eventually makes him a billionaire.
“Maybe 30-35 years. I know I can get there,” Booker said of how long that might take.